Tech Titans Look to Lobby Washington on AI—In Different Directions
WASHINGTON—Titans of Silicon Valley are descending on Washington Wednesday to brief U.S. senators on artificial intelligence, in a meeting aimed at advancing nascent efforts to regulate the new technology. The closed-door all-senators’ session, organized by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), will feature Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and more than a dozen other executives and civil-society leaders.
These tech bosses are already locked in a market-driven race to roll out sophisticated artificial-intelligence systems, especially generative tools that can quickly produce humanlike outputs. The Capitol Hill gathering gives them a chance to shape the priorities of lawmakers, some of whom are racing just as fast to place guardrails on AI development. Wednesday also might be the first time Musk and Zuckerberg find themselves in the same room following their called-off cage match.
Assuming the tech leaders keep their fisticuffs in check, their previous comments suggest they will try to pull senators in different directions. Here are where some of the key players stand: Sam Altman: Regulate Us Altman is the chief executive of OpenAI, the company that kicked off an industry arms race last year when it launched the viral chatbot ChatGPT. He is among the tech leaders driven by pursuit of so-called artificial general intelligence, or AGI, a computer program that could match human reasoning.
Altman says his goal is to ensure AI benefits all of humanity, helping us become more productive and creative. He has also argued that the government must intervene to make sure AI doesn’t cause economic or geopolitical catastrophe. In 2021, Altman proposed that Congress implement a new tax system that would impose levies on
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